


Winging It

by Merit



Category: DCU
Genre: Gen, Wingfic, Wings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-23
Updated: 2014-03-23
Packaged: 2018-01-16 16:49:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1354612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merit/pseuds/Merit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just another normal day for Stephanie Brown.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Winging It

Stephanie woke up slowly, blinking at the bright light coming through her curtains. She had once again forgotten to close them last night after coming home from patrolling. But it had been a long day and Stephanie had basically collapsed on her bed, falling asleep as soon as her head hit her pillow.

Stephanie groaned as more light cruelly, meanly shone directly on her eyes like it didn't care that Stephanie had spent seven hours at Gotham U yesterday, two hours of training before launching into the night sky and patrolling for six hours. And that included babysitting the youngest Batfamily member. They were often paired together these days. Robin and Red Robin together would only end in bloodshed. 

She was starting to agree with her mother that children caused you to have grey hair. She only hoped she had a few more years before she had to reach for dye. She was sure that would lead to snide remarks about her suitability about being Batgirl.

Her mother was calling her, she realized through the fog in her mind. Shaking her head, she shouted, "What?" Through her bedcovers, the walls and down the stairs, her voice travelled.

"Waffles!" Her mother yelled back. They both had a good set of lungs.

"I'll be down soon!" She called back. She smiled. It was times like this that made the last few years worth it. She had her mother downstairs making waffles and life was good.

Now. To get up. She started with baby movements, wriggling her toes. That break in one of her toes was taking a while to heal, she noted. Stephanie stretched, wincing as a bruise on her lower back protested more firmly. She had been thrown against a wall last night and her lower back had caught the brunt of the blow. Despite her padding and armor, it didn’t mean Stephanie was brick wall proof.

It felt like there was something on top of her. Instantly Stephanie stilled.

Several seconds later she launched herself of the bed, yelling, "Hi-ya!" 

There was no one there. 

She stayed poised to strike however, just because she couldn’t see someone didn’t mean they weren’t there. Stephanie rolled back on her heels, carefully examining every corner of her bedroom. Out of the corner of her eye she saw -

Wings. Great big honking angel wings. On her back.

Oh fuck. It had broken through her favorite unicorn t-shirt too. She ran a hand over the design and pouted. 

It wasn't going to be a good morning, Stephanie decided, peering over her shoulder with a sigh.

-

She had to lie to her mom. It was something that Stephanie didn’t like doing, but she was getting pretty good at. The ‘hi-ya’ was explained away as Stephanie bravely fighting off a spider. Her mother has snorted.

It also meant that missed out on waffles, which, ouch. Stephanie knew there were sacrifices involved with crime fighting; she had quite a few scars that proved her dedication. But... waffles. Being denied of waffles really strengthened your will to fight crime.

So now she was officially home sick. She had to fake a few wicked coughs so her mother would leave without checking in on her. One of the problems of having a nurse as a mother. She had texted her friends so they would take notes for him during class today. She had emailed her professors, begging their forgiveness for missing their classes and promised to send coughing audios if they doubted her illness. So far no one had taken her up on the offer. Thankfully she didn’t have shelving duties or anything like that, so at least she didn’t have to swap shifts with someone.

The feathers shifted, fluffing up as Stephanie shivered, suddenly cold without her blankets.

Well.

At least she didn’t have to yet.

She ran a hand down her left wing. It was soft, just like a real bird. Stephanie shook out her wings and marveled at the sensation. She slowly spread her wings, twirling in a circle with her arms outstretched. She could feel the air against every feather. It was amazing.

Stephanie sighed. They couldn’t last. She wouldn’t be able to get on with her life if she had a pair of humungous wings on her back.

Now that just left the uncomfortable task of asking one of her fellow Bat family members that she had wings. Damian wasn’t even a consideration, even if he could drive. She suspected Bruce would want her in immediately for testing and she wanted to avoid getting poked and prodded for as long as possible. 

So she called one of her oldest friends.

Tim answered quickly and sounded remarkably coherent considering he had patrolled for a few hours after her. “Hello.”

“I need you to pick me up. Bring a van,” Stephanie added, thinking of her wing situation. She wasn’t going to be fitting into the Batmobile any time soon. Or any one of the sleek Wayne vehicles.

There was a rustling sound, Tim probably was swinging his legs out of bed, Stephanie thought. “How urgent is this?” He asked casually. They had codes for situations like this.

Stephanie flexed her wings. “Hard to say. I’m fine. Mostly. But definitely need some assistance,” she said. She could nearly hear Tim relax over the phone. He could be so obvious sometimes, she thought.

“Okay,” Tim said. “I’ll be around as soon as possible.” There was a click as he hung up. Stephanie stared at her phone for a few seconds. She rarely had time just for herself these days. But she was actually on top of work, at least until the day’s notes came in. 

She opened up Candy Crush, ready to defeat another level.

Five lives later, she stared glumly at her phone. Now what? 

She wondered if she could fly. Wait. If she could, did that mean she couldn’t be Batgirl anymore? She knew Batman had a stance against metahumans but she hadn’t meant to be a meta so surely he would bend – Stephanie snorted. Batman bending the rules? 

She flapped her wings, looking over her should nervously. They moved, somewhat reluctantly. She flapped them harder. Well, it would be impossible for her to fly, she thought absently, quite enjoying the breeze her wings were creating. So they would be more of a burden than a blessing.

With one final flap, Stephanie was thrust several feet into the air, her head slamming into the ceiling with a loud thunk. It was only her training that saved her from making an undignified fall on the ground. As it was, Stephanie collapsed on the floor as the unexpected weight on the wings pushed her over.

“Ow,” she muttered, rubbing her elbow. 

“This is unexpected,” Tim said. Stephanie looked up, brows raised.

“How come you have keys?” She said, eyeing the swinging keys in his hand. Tim shrugged. “Never mind. I’ll just label this under my creepy ex-boyfriend folder and try and forget everything. So,” she said, getting to her feet. “What did you expect?”

“A hostage situation?” Tim asked. Stephanie rolled her eyes. “On the balance of things it seems more likely than you spontaneously sprouting wings.”

“Hmm,” Stephanie hummed. “I don’t think they’re quite spontaneous.”

Tim sighed. “Is there magic involved?” He asked wearily, running a hand through his hair. “I hope this isn’t contagious,” he added, giving her a pointed look.

“And some of Poison Ivy’s potions?” Stephanie said. “Hey, I wasn’t a total newbie. I went through the usual decontamination procedures before coming home. I did a blood test. Everything checked out as normal,” she frowned suddenly. “Damian was there too,” she said slowly.

“Are you telling me that Damian Wayne may have developed wings?” Tim closed his eyes and laughed.

Stephanie giggled. “He’s a kid, though, he must be freaking out.”

“Who knows. I can’t imagine being raised by Talia al Ghul was a very nurturing environment,” Tim murmured, “I wouldn’t be surprised if she tested medical experiments on him.”

“Right,” Stephanie said, looking down at the ground. “I should probably put on a bra. Somehow. Then we can go see what’s up.”

“Yell if you need something?” Tim muttered awkwardly. His eyes had flickered to a chest for a micro second before pointedly looking her in the eyes. It was only because Stephanie had known him for years that she could tell he was blushing just a little.

“Sure,” Stephanie said, amused.

-

Two hours later Stephanie was sitting next to Damian. Well as one could sit next to another person when both of you had wings. Bats – because Batman was too formal – was frowning at them both. After a minute of this, Stephanie sighed. Loudly. Damian shot her a withering glare, but Steph was pretty sure he felt the same.

“So,” she said, rocking back and forth on the bench. “Wings.”

“I have analyzed the samples you lodged,” Batman said to her. Turning to Damian he shook his head, “Decontamination rules exist for a reason.”

“Nearly two hours had passed,” Damian muttered, staring at the ground. “I felt no ill side effects. If they were potent I would have been dead.”

“As you can see, death is not the only reason to use poisons,” Batman said.

“Yeah, yeah. But what about the samples? Can you fix us? Or do I need a name change?” Stephanie asked. “I think you can keep being Robin, maybe dye your wings to match.”

“I’m not keeping them!” Damian snapped.

Stephanie rolled her shoulders. “You realize we can at least levitate in things? I figure that’s where the magic comes into play? Because no way could these wings support our weight without a little magic.”

Damian just grunted. But he did flex his wings thoughtfully. And he must have been distracted since he didn’t call her Fatgirl.

“I’m not going to be Angel,” Stephanie said, tapping her chin with a finger. “Too much like the TV show. Or a stripper I used to know. Maybe Winged Danger?” She struck a pose. “Nah, too complicated. Not catchy enough. Night Owl? Ew. I could be associated with Owlman.”

“As riveting as this has all been,” Batman said dryly. “I have developed a cure. The spell was a fairly common one but it was aggravated by Poison Ivy’s Light Growth formula.”

“A cure? Already?” Stephanie pouted. She had been hoping for at least a couple flying sessions but she did have class tomorrow. Keeping her GPA up was hard enough without missing more classes because she had wings.

“I think we should explore the possibilities of keeping the wings,” Damian said, standing and moving his wings experimentally. With one great big whoosh, he was up in the air. A couple bats chittered at him as Damian circled the Batcave.  
Batman turned to stare at Stephanie.

“Hey! Don’t blame me,” Stephanie said, waving her hands defensively. “Kids are impulsive. And who doesn’t dream of flying sometimes?”

Batman grunted his displeasure as he watched Damian fly jerkily around the Batcave. “Out of curiosity,” he started, “How did you land after your flying lesson?”

Stephanie pressed her lips together. “Well.”

“Well?” Batman asked every letter feeling like a threat.

“Face first?” Stephanie said. “There was a ceiling in the way!”

“Robin has a lot further to fall,” Batman said, watching Damian careen across the Batcave with his customary disapproval. 

Stephanie coughed. 

-

“I still think they could have had some tactical purpose,” Damian muttered, glaring at the ground.

Stephanie nodded in commiseration. “I never got to have a good fly,” she complained.

Damian snorted and gave her a sidelong glance. “Tt. As if your wings could have supported you, Fatgirl.”

Stephanie ignored him.

“You’ll just have to come up with something,” Stephanie said. “If they’re non meta then maybe Batman would accept them. Maybe.” You never knew with Batman.

Damian considered the possibility. 

“Or Tim,” Stephanie said, shrugging. “He’s pretty technically minded.”

Judging from the way Damian’s mouth twisted up in a moue of disgust that idea was immediately off the drawing board. Stephanie had to quickly suppress her smile. The kid could be fairly straight forward at times.

“Wearing the wings would look pretty stupid,” he decided.

Stephanie laughed. “Probably!”

**Author's Note:**

> Written for trope_bingo for the space 'wingfic'.


End file.
